Search results

All my bathrooms have a first aid kit in one of the vanity drawers. I hadn't thought about them in years. Opened one up the other day and it was almost empty! Don't know if there has been that much need for first aid, or if some kind soul stuffed their pockets with "free" supplies. But it's...

Our town is on the path of the April 8, 2024 solar eclipse, with over 4 minutes of total darkness here. A year ago I doubled the rates for my rooms on eclipse day, and a couple of days either side of the big day. They are all rented, and the event is a year away! I could have gotten $1,000/night...

I offer free electric vehicle (EV) charging to anyone. As an EV owner myself, I realize the HUGE importance of getting a charge when needed. I have a dedicated Tesla high power charger, and a generic lower power charger for the rest. Today I noticed an Porsche EV at my low power charger...

Just got a message through Air from someone who has 7 acres near my town and was just asking how business is and whether it would be worth their while to open an Air accommodation on their property, asking how demand is, here, for something like that. I answered honestly, saying business really...

I recently discovered these smoke detectors with a 10-year battery. No more having to remember to change batteries every year! After 10 years it will begin to beep once every 60 seconds to notify you that it's time to replace it. They are not expensive. After 10 years just pitch it and install...

In April I will have been doing this 10 years. Should I do something special? I don't see any benefit to me in giving some sort of discount for this occasion. "They" (current guests) didn't do anything to earn a discount. So what? Just try to get some local newspaper publicity/feature story...

Just wanted to share something I ran across, because the Nespresso coffee system makes great coffee, but their pods cost $1.20 to $1.40 each. I've found a "French-style coffee" system, L'OR, that I find just as good as Nespresso, and the coffee pods are "only" 80 to 90 cents each. Saving 50...

...when someone contacts me the day before Thanksgiving and wants a room for the next three nights, and I gloat. This holiday weekend has been booked up for weeks. These people who don't plan ahead deserve the run-down motel they earned!

Happens constantly. Constantly. I get a voicemail or text message: I need a room for tonight, 2 people, 1 night. I reply that I do have a room available, give the rate, and tell them, if you want to book it, I'll need your email address to send a secure online payment link. A few minutes...

...the little things are what drive me crazy. Like when I get a text message that just says, "Can I check in early?" Not can it check in at 1 pm or can I check in at noon. Just can I? I'm tempted to just reply, "Yes." But I know they would reply, "When?" and I still wouldn't know what time...

Good article HERE by Vikram Singh, a hospitality industry advisor I heard speak at the PAII (Professional Association of Innkeepers International) conference in Nashville several years ago. He knows the industry very well. Here's a section of the article...

Big festival in the area this weekend. I sold my first rooms for this weekend a year ago, so I raised the rates 50% and still sold the last remaining rooms 9 months ago. Every one of them was booked for 3 nights. So a significant amount of money for a 3-night stay at a marked up rate. I was...

When inflation talk picked up steam a few months ago, I began carefully monitoring the rates at the local Days Inn, which have remained unchanged since I began monitoring. They are the only real alternative in town to my place; that is, I think people who would stay at my place would probably go...

For years, for my website Contact form, I've successfully used the Google captcha that requires you to, for example, select every image that contains a traffic light, or whatever. Starting last week I receive about 30 contact form emails/day bragging that they beat my captcha and offering to...

Since I live a 10 minute drive from my inn, I've always used self-check-in for my guests. I email them a door key pad code when they make the reservation, with instructions to find and enter their room when they arrive. The locks can be opened either with a key pad code or a real key. I've never...

Has anybody done any calculating on what the inflation is costing us,for supplies, and I suppose utilities and everything else. Right now I'm absorbing it all myself, but at some point I'll have to raise my rates and pass it along to the guests. I just don't know when that point is! I watch...

I'm in small town Arkansas and it's very rare for me to host someone from outside the USA. Like maybe 1/year. I got this review on TA from an Irish woman passing through, and I'm thinking I'll just not bother to respond. I think anyone from the US who reads it will see it for what it is...

After the Air BnB guest left, we found a disaster. Baseboards and window frames with bare wood exposed where inch-long slices of wood were gone. Stained wood desk with a 3 inch gash of bare unstained wood showing along the side. A hairy corn cob found under the bed. We're pretty sure she slipped...

My Google Photos just popped up this reminder from 2013 of three of our Innspiring innkeepers from those days. You other old timers will remember them.

I heard on the news today that Silverspoon's area was one of he hardest hit by the recent snow storms and power outages in the Northeast USA. Hope they're able to dig out and get power back quickly!